The Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabemowin: Gichigamiwininiwag, meaning "Lake Superior Men") are many groups of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) people who live around Lake Superior. This area is part of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the United States. These groups moved into the region by the 1700s, settling in lands that the Eastern Dakota people had lived in before. The Ojibwe won battles against the Eastern Dakota, who later moved west into the Great Plains after a final battle in 1745. Although these groups share the same culture and language, they are organized into at least twelve separate bands in the area.

In the 1800s, leaders of the Lake Superior Chippewa worked with the United States government through different treaties to protect their traditional lands from European-American settlers taking them. The U.S. government created several reservations for these bands under the treaties, with one established in 1854. This allowed the people to remain in their homeland instead of being forced to move west of the Mississippi River, as the government had tried to do. Under the treaties, bands with reservations were recognized by the U.S. government as independent tribes. Some groups still include "Lake Superior Chippewa" in their official names to show their shared cultural history.

Origins

Before 1650, the Ojibwe people divided into two groups near what is now Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. They believed this location was one of the places their prophets had predicted during their migration, which was part of the Anishinaabe people’s journey from the Atlantic Coast toward the west.

Ojibwe who traveled along the southern shore of Lake Superior reached the final place their prophets had said they would stop. This location, called Madeline Island, is where they found "the food that grows on water" (wild rice). In the late 1600s, the Ojibwe living on Madeline Island began to move into new areas. This was due to a growing population, a need for furs to trade, and disagreements about how to interact with French Jesuit missionaries. For a time, they formed an alliance with the Eastern Dakota.

Around 1737, the Ojibwe competed with the Eastern Dakota and Meskwaki tribes for nearly 100 years in the interior of Wisconsin, west and south of Lake Superior. The Ojibwe had better technology, including guns they obtained through trade with the French, which gave them an advantage for a time. Eventually, they pushed the Dakota Sioux out of most of northern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota, forcing them to move westward.

The Lakota people were pushed further west, where they later settled in the Great Plains of present-day Nebraska and the Dakotas. The Ojibwe spread across the Great Lakes region, with groups settling along lakes and rivers in what became northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. La Pointe on Madeline Island remained the spiritual and business center of the Ojibwe nation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sub-nations

The Lake Superior Chippewa people are a large group that includes many smaller bands.

A separate group, called the Biitan-akiing-enabijig (Border Sitters), lived between the Ojibwe of the Lake Superior watershed and other nations. The Biitan-akiing-enabijig were divided into three main bands:

• Manoominikeshiinyag (the "Ricing Rails" or St. Croix Chippewa Indians), who lived in the St. Croix River valley;
• Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiwininiwag (the "Ottawa Lake Men"), who lived near Lac Courte Oreilles; and
• Waaswaaganiwininiwag (the "Torch Men"), who lived near Lac du Flambeau.

Many smaller sub-bands also existed within these groups.

Treaties and reservations

In the mid-1800s, the Lake Superior Chippewa signed a series of treaties with the U.S. Government. These treaties grouped the Chippewa into one unit, which included the following bands: Mississippi, Pillager, Bois Forte, Muskrat Portage, Red Lake, Pembina, and La Pointe. These villages had operated independently and did not have a central leader or governing body.

In the winter of 1851, President Zachary Taylor ordered the Lake Superior Chippewa to move west of the Mississippi River, as many other tribes in the east had already been forced to do. During these relocations, the U.S. Army attacked a group of Chippewa near Sandy Lake, an event now known as the Sandy Lake tragedy. Hundreds of Chippewa, including women and children, died in the attack. La Pointe chief Kechewaishke (Buffalo) traveled to Washington, D.C., to ask the government for help. Public anger over the deaths led the U.S. to stop trying to move the Ojibwe.

The final treaty in 1854 created permanent reservations in Michigan at L'Anse, Lac Vieux Desert, and Ontonagon. In 1934, the Indian Reorganization Act recognized the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community as the successor to the L'Anse, Lac Vieux Desert, and Ontonagon bands. Government operations were managed by this community, though the three reservations remained separate. In 1988, the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa received federal recognition as an independent tribe. Along with the Keweenaw Bay tribe, it is part of the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, which represents 11 of the 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan. These tribes include Potowatomi and Odawa peoples, who, with the Ojibwe, form the Council of Three Fires.

In Wisconsin, reservations were established at Red Cliff, Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles, and Lac du Flambeau. The St. Croix and Sokaogon bands were not included in the 1854 treaty and did not gain tribal lands or federal recognition until the 1930s, after the Indian Reorganization Act.

In Minnesota, reservations were created at Fond du Lac and Grand Portage. Other bands, such as the Bois Forte Band, continued to negotiate directly with the U.S. government and ended their political ties to the Lake Superior Chippewa.

Today

Today, these bands are recognized by the federal government as independent tribes with their own governments. They stay closely connected to their culture. They have taken legal actions about treaty rights, such as fishing for walleye. Many bands include "Lake Superior Chippewa" in their official tribal names to show their historical and cultural connections (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, etc.).

The historical bands and their political successors-apparent are as follows:

• Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, formed by merging the L'Anse Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (historical) and Ontonagon Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (historical)
• Lac Vieux Desert Band of Chippewa
• La Pointe Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (historical): descendants are the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians
• Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
• Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
• St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (historical): descendants are the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, formed by merging the Mille Lacs Indians (historical), Rice Lake Band of Mississippi Chippewa (historical), Sandy Lake Band of Mississippi Chippewa (historical), Snake and Kettle River Bands of St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota (historical), and St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
• Sokaogon Chippewa Community
• Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
• Grand Portage Band
• Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, formed by merging the Lake Vermilion Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (historical), Little Forks Band of Rainy River Saulteaux (historical), and Nett Lake Band of Rainy River Saulteaux (historical)

In addition to these political successors-apparent, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (through the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota), Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (through the Removable Fond du Lac Band of the Chippewa Indian Reservation), and the White Earth Band of Chippewa (through the Removable St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin of the Gull Lake Indian Reservation) in present-day Minnesota have minor successorship to the Lake Superior Chippewa. They do not exercise the aboriginal sovereign powers derived from the Lake Superior Chippewa.